Regiment of the Gardes du Corps

Regiment of the Gardes du Corps
active	1740 to 1919
Country	Prussia
Armed forces	Prussian Army
Branch of service	cavalry
Type	Cuirassiers
Insinuation	Guard Corps
Former locations	Berlin , Potsdam , Charlottenburg
Origin of the soldiers	Honored men of the cavalry
owner	1740 Friedrich II. Of Prussia , 1786 Friedrich Wilhelm II. Of Prussia , 1797 Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia
motto	Nobility the time has come
Tribe list	Old Prussian cavalry regiments
Trunk number	K 13 ( Bleckwenn )
Wars and major battles	War of Austrian Succession , Seven Years War , Coalition Wars - Hohenfriedberg (1745), Prague (1757), Lobositz (1757), Roßbach (1757), Leuthen (1757), Zorndorf (1759), Liegnitz (1760), Hochkirch (1760), Torgau ( 1760)

The regiment of the Gardes du Corps was a cuirassier regiment in the Guard Cavalry of the Prussian Army . It was set up in 1740 by Friedrich II of Prussia as the 13th cuirassier regiment (later numbered K 13 ).

history

Standard of the regiment

With the Highest Cabinet Order (AKO) of June 23, 1740, the formation of a teaching squadron Gardes du Corps was ordered in Charlottenburg . It was not only the personal bodyguard for the king, but also became a model unit for the Prussian cavalry , which had failed in the Battle of Mollwitz on April 10, 1741 and had to be restructured.

It was not until the Seven Years' War that field squadrons were added and the unit was increased. The resulting regiment was assigned first rank in the army list. Thus the Gardes du Corps were the most distinguished unit of the royal Prussian cavalry and remained so until their dissolution. Although the regiment still had the number 13 of the cuirassier regiments in the list of members from 1806, it always took first place in exercises and parades.

In 1753, Potsdam was assigned to the regiment as a new garrison. In 1914 the regiment consisted of five squadrons, two companies each . The 1st company was called the Leibcompanie , its chief was the respective King of Prussia, who was also always the chief of the entire regiment. The horses of the Gardes du Corps were all dark brown in color.

War of the Austrian Succession

In the War of the Austrian Succession , the regiment took part in the Austro-Prussian fighting in Silesia, particularly in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on June 4, 1745.

Seven Years War

During the Seven Years' War the regiment took part in the following battles: Lobositz , Prague , Kolin (one squadron), Roßbach , Leuthen , Zorndorf , Hochkirch , Liegnitz and Torgau .

Coalition wars

War with France 1806/07

Not deployed in the lost battle of Auerstedt on October 14, 1806 , the regiment was able to withdraw to Königsberg as a closed unit . It was assigned to the L'Estocq corps and took part in the battle of Prussian Eylau . The regiment was one of the few units that continued to exist in the newly formed Prussian army.

Wars of Liberation 1813/15

Participation in the battle of Großgörschen , Bautzen and Haynau . Participation in the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (October 16-18, 1813). Invasion of Paris on March 31, 1814. After Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Belle Alliance (June 18, 1815), the second invasion of Paris on July 22, 1815. From October 4 to December 2, 1815 march back to Berlin and Potsdam.

Revolution 1848

The regiment was involved in the street fighting in Berlin on March 18, 1848 .

German-Danish War

In the campaign against Denmark of 1864 there was no mobilization for the regiment.

German war

In the war against the German Confederation, the regiment moved to Bohemia . In the battle of Königgrätz it was assigned to the reserve.

Franco-German War

The war against France saw the cuirassiers involved in only minor fighting at St. Privat , Sedan and the siege of Paris from September 19, 1870 to January 28, 1871. After the armistice in February 1871, the regiment was assigned to the occupation force. It stayed here until the beginning of June 1871 and then returned to its home garrison, where it arrived on June 13th. On June 16, 1871, the regiment rode through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin as part of the victory parade .

First World War

After mobilization, march to Belgium and take part in the Battle of the Marne .

August 1914: advance to the Marne
on August 28, 1914, the 1st and 3rd squadrons were at Fère-en-Tardenois / north of Château-Thierry
At the beginning of September 1914 retreat to the Aisne
Then until December 1914 trench warfare on the Aisne.
From December 1914 to July 1915 border guards on the Belgian-Dutch border.
From August 1915 he was transferred to the Eastern Front and participated in the offensive in Russian Poland and Galicia .
From October 1915 to mid-July 1917 positional battles near Pinsk and Kovel . Then made mounted again and used in the counter-offensive in Galicia.
Subsequently, until February 1918, relocation to Courland and Livonia to maintain security and order. This also included combating alliances of armed Russian deserters and other armed groups of the local population that did not belong to the combatant status.
In April 1918 evacuated to Ukraine to restore order there.
On November 9th the regiment was in Jampol .

Whereabouts

After the end of the war , the regiment received the order to evacuate Ukraine on November 12, 1918. It arrived back in Potsdam on February 13 and 14, 1919, where demobilization began on February 16 and the association was finally dissolved.

The tradition took over in the Reichswehr by decree of the Chief of the Army Command, General of the Infantry Hans von Seeckt , of August 24, 1921, the 1st Squadron of the 4th (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment in Potsdam. Most recently, the 24th Panzer Battalion in Braunschweig continued its tradition in the Bundeswehr until its dissolution.

Commanders

Rank	Surname	date
major	Otto Friedrich von Blumenthal	1740
Rittmeister	Georg Christoph von Jaschinski	1744
Colonel	Hans von Blumenthal	1747
Rittmeister	Wilhelm Dietrich von Wacknitz	1758
major	Karl Heinrich von Schätzell	1760
Colonel	Johann Karl Friedrich von Mengden	December 23, 1773 to September 24, 1785
major	Karl Wilhelm von Byern	1785
Colonel	Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm von Zollikofer	1795
Lieutenant colonel	Christian Friedrich von Rabenau	1798
major	Ernst August von Wintzingerode	1801
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Heinrich von Zawadzky	September 20, 1806 to February 25, 1810
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Florence von Bockum called Dolffs	0March 1, 1810 to June 14, 1813
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Heinrich von Knobelsdorff	June 18, 1813 to April 10, 1815
Colonel	Friedrich Wilhelm Count of Brandenburg	April 23, 1816 to March 27, 1819
Colonel	Karl von Brauchitsch	March 28, 1819 to November 27, 1826
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Friedrich von dem Bussche-Ippenburg	March 30, 1829 to February 15, 1834
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Franz Heinrich von Waldersee	February 17, 1834 to March 24, 1841
Lieutenant colonel	Friedrich von Reitzenstein	March 25, 1841 to August 31, 1845
Lieutenant colonel	Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein	0September 1, 1845 to January 12, 1846 (in charge of the tour)
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein	January 13, 1847 to December 13, 1848
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Louis von Dönhoff	December 14, 1848 to April 24, 1854
Colonel	Friedrich von Derenthall	April 25, 1854 to September 17, 1856
Colonel	Hugo Eberhard zu Münster-Meinhövel	September 18, 1856 to July 7, 1858
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Hermann von Alvensleben	0July 8, 1858 to June 13, 1859
major	Friedrich of Brandenburg	June 14, 1859 to May 11, 1860 (responsible for the tour)
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Friedrich of Brandenburg	May 12, 1860 to October 29, 1866
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Buko from Krosigk	October 30, 1866 to November 10, 1871
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Hermann Albert to Lynar	November 11, 1871 to May 14, 1875
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Karl von Alten	June 15, 1875 to March 21, 1882
Colonel	Theodor von Schlieffen	March 22, 1882 to September 15, 1885
Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Gerd von Below	September 16, 1885 to February 15, 1889
Lieutenant colonel	Moritz von Bissing	February 18, 1889 to May 19, 1893
	Friedrich Leopold of Prussia	May 20, 1893 to November 13, 1894
	Alfred von Mitzlaff	November 14, 1894 to June 9, 1899
	Wilhelm von Hohenau	June 10, 1899 to April 21, 1902
Major / Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel	Manfred von Richthofen	April 22, 1902 to March 20, 1908
Lieutenant colonel	Thilo von Rothkirch and Trach	March 21, 1908 to February 17, 1913
Lieutenant colonel	Friedrich von der Schulenburg	February 18, 1913 to August 1, 1914
	Leopold von Kleist	0August 2, 1914 to January 10, 1915
Lieutenant colonel	Reinhard Ludwig zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich	January 11, 1915 to June 23, 1917
	Eberhard von Arnim	June 24, 1917 to August 4, 1918
Lieutenant colonel	Peter Martin Yorck von Wartenburg	0August 5, 1918 to February 15, 1919

uniform

Cuirassier of the Gardes du Corps during the imperial proclamation

Until 1912, a white rollerball and white boot pants were also worn in the field . Officers were equipped with epaulettes , NCOs and men with epaulets . There were also black cuirassier boots (so-called cannon boots), a particularly long form of the gauntlet boots and the cuirassier helmet made of tombak with new silver badges, as well as a white bandolier with a black cartridge . During parades, a white metal, two-part cuirass was also put on and the tip of the helmet was replaced by a silver eagle. The musicians led a red horsehair bush instead of the tip. On the front of the helmet was the guard star .

The cuirassiers wore a dark blue tunic for normal duty . As a society uniform , this was equipped with epaulettes for officers, generally a tombac-colored ring collar with silver badges was worn. This included a white peaked cap with a red trim.

The badge color on the Swedish lapels, the collar and the epaulette fields was red, the buttons and trims silver.

A red super vest was put on over the Koller with the gala watch suit . On the front and back of the vest there was an embroidered star of the Order of the Black Eagle.

Already ordered by AKO on February 14, 1907 and introduced gradually from 1909/10, the colorful uniform was replaced for the first time by the field-gray field service uniform (M 1910) on the occasion of the imperial maneuver in 1913. The leather gear and the boots were natural brown, the helmet was covered by a fabric cover called reed-colored. The bandolier and the cartridge were no longer applied to this uniform.

particularities

As the most distinguished cavalry regiment of the Prussian army and its affiliated armies, the regiment of the Gardes du Corps had a number of special features:

In the ranking of the Prussian troops, the GdC took second place immediately behind the First Guard Regiment on Foot (EGR). This was shown, among other things, in the fact that at the New Year's reception of the emperor and king the officers of the GdC were brought to the throne immediately after those of the EGR and thus before the princes and ambassadors.
The officer corps of the cavalry regiments generally had a higher proportion of noble officers than those of other branches of the army. In 1913 there was not a single civil officer in the GdC apart from the five doctors and veterinarians. Of the 34 officer positions, 20 were occupied by princes and counts. The proportion of high and primeval nobility thus took a top position in the GdC in a comparison of all regiments. Philipp zu Eulenburg , who had served in the GdC, called his regiment "the most elegant of the elegant guards".
At court balls, a particularly great officer of the GdC always had to be near the emperor and king. This officer was the only person present to wear the eagle helmet on his head during the entire event. The purpose of this provision was to make it easy and quick to find the emperor and king in the halls in the event of urgent reports or dispatches.
The GdC was the only cuirassier regiment to have two sets of cuirasses. In addition to the brightly polished ones, each cuirassier had a two-part (chest and back piece) black cuirass. The Russian tsar had given the regiment the black cuirass in 1814 as a token of friendship and loyalty to the alliance.
The GdC's kettle drummers had to have a particularly magnificent and handsome beard, which was even described in detail in the relevant regulations.
The regiment's unofficial motto was nobility - it's time . This alluded to a saying by Rittmeister Achatz von Wacknitz in the Battle of Roßbach . Nobility does not stand as a woman's name, but for the nobility or aristocratic or knightly disposition.
In song and march Donnerwetter - impeccable! (also: Der Gardeleutnant ) from the eponymous revue by Paul Lincke , based on the text by Julius Freund, the regiment of the Gardes du Corps is cheerfully sung about.

Standard

The regimental standarte of the Gardes du Corps has been preserved and is now in the Zeughaus ( German Historical Museum ) in Berlin, after it was kept on the coffin of Frederick the Great at Hohenzollern Castle until 1991 .

photos

Officer of the Gardes du Corps in small uniform, 1815
Officer of the Gardes du Corps in great uniform, 1815
Uniforms of the Gardes du Corps from 1740 to the traditional regiment 1926. Postcard from Carl Henckel (1862–1929)
Soldiers of the regiment in Potsdam, 1913
Members of the regiment in Potsdam, 1913
Wilhelm II as head of the regiment in white parade uniform; Painting by AH Hering (1900)

literature

Hans Bleckwenn : The Frederician uniforms 1753–1786 . Volume III: Mounted Troops . Dortmund 1984, ISBN 3-88379-444-9 .
Ferdinand Graf von Brühl : Overview of the history of the Royal Regiment of the Gardes du Corps from 1740 to 1890 . Mittler and Son , Berlin 1890.
DVENr. 317 Dress Code for officers etc . Berlin 1911.
Jürgen Kraus : The German army in the First World War . Militaria Verlag, Vienna 2004.
Kurd Wolfgang von Schöning : History of the Royal Prussian Regiment Garde du Corps for its centenary celebration. Digitized
Hugo FW Schulz: The Prussian Cavalry Regiments 1913/1914 . Weltbild Verlag, 1992.
Tribe, ranking and quarters list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. Kgl. Württemberg Army Corps . Berlin 1913.

Web links

Commons : Regiment of the Gardes du Corps - collection of images, videos and audio files

kuerassierregimenter.de - List, equipment and history of the 10 Prussian cuirassier regiments

Individual evidence

↑ Bleckwenn 1984, p. 75.
↑ Although in the singular Garde and in the plural Gardes , only this regiment, which should actually be called Garde du Corps , is referred to as Gardes du Corps .
^ Günter Wegmann (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990. Part 1: Occupation of the German armies 1815–1939. Volume 3: The occupation of the active regiments, battalions and departments from the foundation or list up to August 26, 1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2413-1 , pp. 1-3.
↑ Cf. Eulenburg: From fifty years. Berlin 1923, p. 49.

[1] Bleckwenn 1984, p. 75.

[2] Although in the singular Garde and in the plural Gardes , only this regiment, which should actually be called Garde du Corps , is referred to as Gardes du Corps .

[3] Günter Wegmann (Ed.), Günter Wegner: Formation history and staffing of the German armed forces 1815-1990. Part 1: Occupation of the German armies 1815–1939. Volume 3: The occupation of the active regiments, battalions and departments from the foundation or list up to August 26, 1939. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2413-1 , pp. 1-3.

[4] Cf. Eulenburg: From fifty years. Berlin 1923, p. 49.